


New York Minutes

by Biana_Delacroix



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Mentions of past abuse, Secret Favourite Crackship, Sightseeing and Crime Solving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 21:38:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7009117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biana_Delacroix/pseuds/Biana_Delacroix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The city never sleeps so why would they? Kol and Caroline take New York, but in between the sex and the sightseeing, they start to question just how serious this thing of theirs is. And then they find the dead body.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New York Minutes

**Author's Note:**

> Annual Koroline outing, this time in the same universe as 'Monte Carlo Nights'. Enjoy!

There’s a city that all vampires should see at least once when they’re still relatively newly turned and fresh faced and high on the thrill of blood and immortality, and Caroline Forbes has not only that going for her, she has a hot sort-of-boyfriend/boytoy/arm candy by her side and this is her chance to live it up in the Big Apple.

Kol’s by her side and New York City is buzzing with life. Yeah, this is going to be good.

Sure, she’s a little bit of a dork about it, who can blame her? She’s gotten out of Mystic Falls, seen a bit of the world. but this is fucking _New York City,_ it’s the center of everything, it’s literally sacred.

“Sweets?”

It’s seen some of the most amazing people in history and everything just buzzes with life like everybody has somewhere to be.

“Forbes?”

She gets it now, why everything happens here, why everyone wants to come here, and she has all the time in the world to see all of it-

“ _Caroline_!”

“Kol, what the fuck, that hurt!”

The Original doesn’t look sorry, just smug as Caroline rubs the spot on her arm where Kol had pinched her, hard.

“You were the one gaping like an idiot in the middle of Times Square,  I thought you must’ve gone dumb.”

“Thanks for the concern,” Caroline says sarcastically.

“You’re welcome,” he replies, totally nonchalant, but when she continues pouting he  tugs her close and nips her jaw playfully. “Relax darling, I just didn’t want you to look like too much of a tourist. Hardly works for our image.”

“We have an image?”

“Hot, young, dangerous, ready to tear the city to shreds.”

At some point, she’ll call him out on the ‘tear the city apart’ thing, but for now, his arm is winding around her waist and his lips are trailing a path up her jaw with no care for the fact that they are literally in the middle of Times fucking Square, but he makes it so hard for Caroline to concentrate on the rest of the world when he’s in a mood like this, so there’s not a lot to do but just go with it.

Maybe he’s right, they do have an image. Hot, young, and completely addicted to each other. Let the rest of the city watch, they know that everyone would kill to be them.

* * *

 

The city never sleeps so why would they?

It’s New York, there are a million and one things to do and as Kol quickly figures out, Caroline is on a mission to do _everything._

_‘She’s beautiful and fun and great in bed’,_ is what he repeats to himself in his head as she tries to get a ridiculous Statue of Liberty crown on his head. She manages it long enough to get a photo and then he throws it at some poor bloke hard enough that it snaps his head back, but Caroline is too busy perfecting the art of the tourist selfie to care.

There are the Broadway shows (Kol draws the line at seeing anything Disney), the museums (he lived through this shit, and his versions are much bloodier and much more interesting), and the _shopping._

(Three hours into a spree at Saks, Caroline turns around to get Kol’s opinion on a dress and finds a complete stranger who cheerfully informed her that she’d been compelled into being Caroline’s shopping partner for the rest of the day.

She gets Kol back for ditching her by dragging him out of bed at 6:00 am the next morning to recreate _Breakfast at Tiffanys_ )

Caroline’s militant version of sightseeing is showing no signs of slowing down, so finally Kol just plucks the guidebook out of her hand and throws it into the Hudson, smirking at the look of utter panic on her face.

“You _asshole,_ I had that thing highlighted!”

Kol just rolls his eyes because there’s no way he’s going to spend this vacation beholden to some godawful guide that knows nothing about the city that was once _his_ playground. (It occurs to him, however, that being beholden to golden curls and pink lips is an incredibly easy experience.)

Caroline still glowers but Kol just pulls her by the hand and laughs like a kid, and it’s difficult for her to stay annoyed when he kisses her and solemnly swears that he can show her the city better than any book.

And you know what? She believes him.

So Caroline loses her frown and smiles her sunniest smile (he loves her smile) and Kol just smirks (she loves his smirk) and they make their way through back-alley speakeasies, dance until the morning, feed off whatever poor unfortunate soul gets in the way of their fun.

They develop a bad habit of absolutely destroying their hotel rooms, taking turns pinning each other against any and all available surfaces, ripping into clothes and tearing into flesh, fucking each other with the zest that comes from endless youth.

Somehow, they never get tired of each other.

* * *

Kol might have taken over Caroline’s planning but there are some experiences she refuses to compromise on and the Empire State Building at night is one of them. They’re standing on the observation deck, staring out at a sea of lights like they’re on top of the world and nothing else matters at all.

“Hey Forbes, do you have anything I can throw off this thing?”

Such a romantic.

“Kol, _behave_.”

“You’re _no_ fun, darling.”

“I’m trying to soak in the experience! We’re standing on top of New York City, don’t you think it’s the teensiest bit romantic?”

Kol’s grin is sharp and feral and she knows what it means right before his long fingers are tugging at her waist and his lips are at her ear. “You compel half the tourists to make themselves scarce, I’ll take the other half and we’ll fuck on top of the world, how does that sound?”

Honestly that sounds pretty great and there is no denying the shiver of anticipation that races down Caroline’s spine, but the thrill of exhibitionism aside, the fact is the floor is a little disgusting. She settles for kissing him on top of the world and before she can lose herself to the drugging effect and they rip off each other’s clothes in public, they both settle for making a mad dash back to the hotel where they gladly destroy the place.

By the time they’re lying in bed, Kol’s fingers trailing up and down her spine, Caroline wonders how long this thing will last, because as far as she can see, there will never be an end in sight.

* * *

Caroline’s not _bored,_ exactly. It’s New York. It’s _Kol._ How could she be bored of anything? But one night with reality tv on the large hotel flatscreen, they’re strewn across ridiculously expensive sheets, beautiful and bored when Caroline feels the creep of ennui and she _hates it._ It’s the downside to still being relatively young, getting used to the stillness in between immortality,

She wonders if Kol ever feels that way and turns to ask him, only to find him napping. Of course.

A smirk spreads across her face and she crawls over his body, supporting herself on her elbows on either side of him, trailing light nips down his chest, his stomach, pulling away at the sheet covering his hips and continuing down until her lips are wrapped around his cock, easily bringing him to attention and when she feels his fingers wind through her hair she knows he’s finally realized that there are better things waiting for him in the land of the living.

“ _Christ,_ Darling” he groans, and he silently swears that no matter how much he whines when she talks his ear off, she damn well knows how to use that mouth.

Caroline hums, picking up her pace as she hollows her cheeks, and just when his fingers tighten enough that she knows he’s close, she releases him from her mouth and looks up at his stunned expression with the biggest shit-eating grin on her face.

“Not very generous Sweets,” he says grumpily, but Caroline just moves back up his body and rests on his chest, arms folded under her chin.

“I’m bored.”

“We were just in the middle of something, but _you_ decided to be a bitch.”

“Relax you big baby, I just want to get out and do something interesting.”

Kol could gripe a bit more but there’s an idea on the edge of his mind and he likes the way it’s going. “I might have a plan. Trust me?”

Should she? Probably not.

“You know I do.”

* * *

The name of the game is hide and seek but Caroline honest to god doesn’t believe Kol’s serious for a solid fifteen minutes. It’s late enough that Central Park is closed, and in the dark it stretches out in front of them, quiet and empty, and Caroline thinks she’d be content with walking around the quiet trails hand-in-hand  but her boyfriend’s clearly got other plans.

“We didn’t sneak in here to ‘walk’,” Kol says with a smirk, “and _you_ were the one that said you were bored.”

She has to admit he’s right, but _hide and seek,_ really?

“It’s the thrill of the chase,” he explains, sounding a little too wicked. “But first…”

There’s no time to question him before he’s got her pressed against the damp grass and his lips are at her throat, hand working its way up her skirt. Caroline would stop him but his fingers are too fucking talented for her to care about the setting, and he’s teasing her, rubbing the lace of her thong against her clit until she’s squirming for _more,_ and just when she thinks he might give it to her, there a cold breeze and she’s left lying alone on the ground, hot, bothered, and _fuming._

She gets it, this is revenge for leaving him blue earlier, but if Kol wants a game, he’s got one.

“Come out, come out wherever you are, asshole,” Caroline mutters, stomping her way through the large park petulantly. She could use her vampire speed, but it’s easier to work herself into self-righteousness at a human pace, and besides, this place is so huge there’s no telling where to start. Kol’s voice practically rings in her ear, teasing her about how much better his senses are than hers, and she forces herself to focus her efforts on finding him or there’ll be no living with him after this.

So. Focus. General sounds of the city, slightly muted by the park, some wildlife, trees, trees, some more trees. But also…was that _blood?_

Caroline follows the scent all the way to the dead body, sprawled unceremoniously on the grass. It’s a young woman, practically covered in blood and Caroline sighs in exasperation because she wouldn’t have minded just playing Kol’s stupid game, but hiding a body was _so_ not what she signed up for.

“Seriously?!” she calls out, knowing he’ll hear her. “Get out here so I can yell at you!”

“The proper phrasing is ‘Olly Olly Oxen Free’” Kol says smugly as he flashes behind her, dropping a kiss on her neck before she swats him away.

“Now don’t be sour just because you gave up-”

“I didn’t give up, I was too busy thinking about how we have to get rid of _this._ _”_

Kol notices the body then, his face splitting into a grin of pure delight. “ _Darling_ , I had no idea you were in the mood for blood, I would’ve gladly gone hunting with you.”

Caroline’s mind comes to a halt with a record scratch. “Wait…you didn’t do this?”

“Why would I leave you out of the fun?”

It’s almost sweet how much he cares. “Seriously, you’re not fucking with me?”

Kol pulls a face, looking around her to assess the corpse. “Look at her, there’s no finesse. I’m an Original, not an amateur.”

Well he’s got her there. “Okay… so if it wasn’t you, who did this?”

“I don’t know and I don’t particularly care,” Kol replies, already over this, fingers wrapping around Caroline’s wrist to pull her away, preferably to some club where they can get fresh blood. Unfortunately, the blonde pulls back, eyes wide and determined.

“We can’t just leave her here, we have to call the cops!”

“You want to get police involved?” It’s almost a foreign notion, but honestly Kol can’t remember the last time he was next to a dead body and he wasn’t responsible for it.

“Well _yeah,_ this is a crime scene.” Caroline already has 911 dialed before Kol can protest and he figures, _what the hell, let her have this,_ because it’s Caroline, she’s still so very human and loves to do things properly.

It’s why he just rolls his eyes through her phonecall, why he keeps his mouth shut when she insists sticking around, why he doesn’t decide to take a drink out of any of the cops who show up, and why he keeps quiet as Caroline compels them all to ignore the two vampires and not consider them part of the crime scene.

He keeps his peace and stands next to Caroline as she oversees the officers like a hawk, thinking that as soon as this is done, it’s back to blood, booze, and sex and this will be nothing more than a charming anecdote.

Later, he’s going to regret all of this.

* * *

“I’m not investigating a bloody murder Forbes!”

To think, he was so sure they’d be able to go back to the hotel, rip each other’s clothes off and go at it like animals. Instead, the glint in Caroline’s eyes is _not_ because she wants to resume her earlier activities with her tongue but because she’s got her head around some crackpot plan that he just knows she’s not going to let go of any time soon.

“It’ll be _fun,_ _”_ Caroline insists, puppy eyes in full force. Kol can go on and on all he likes about how he’s a thousand year old vampire, Caroline knows how to break him. It’s why she leans forward so that he can see down her shirt and walks forward, pressing against him and trailing her manicured nails up and down his chest. A little cliche, maybe, but his pupils are dilating and she’s getting the job done.

“I’m not entertaining your Nancy Drew fantasies,” Kol manages to croak out, albeit hoarse.

“You _like_ hunting people,” Caroline whines, winding her arms around his neck and pressing soft kisses up his jaw.

“Christ, you have no sense,” he says tipping his head back and closing his eyes to enjoy her ministrations.

“What, think you can’t do it?” Her lips are right next to his ear, nipping lightly, and Kol is _this close_ to caving but he holds out.

“I’m not helping you, Sweets.”

The rush of air is too familiar for his liking and when Kol opens his eyes, Caroline is standing across the room, arms crossed and a scowl etched on her face.

“Fine,” she says archly. “Don’t help me. I’ll just spend my nights looking into this and you can stay here, all _alone_.”

Fuck. She’s won this.

“One week, Forbes. One week.”

* * *

It’s not a secret that Kol doesn’t understand humans. He’s proud of the fact really, it’s an Original Family trait, they’re supposed to be above caring about the food. It’s not a secret that Caroline isn’t quite at that level yet.

Whatever, it’s fine, it’s not like they spend their time discussing the finer ethics of whether or not the human they’re hunting for dinner has feelings. Kol doesn’t care but Caroline does and if it suits her to catch and release, then so be it. That’s all there is to it.

But this dead girl - this is something more.

Caroline takes to it like a fish to water, never mind that she barely knows what she’s getting into. Kol can see how much she wants this little mystery solved and at first he’d thought that this was just about winning the game, figuring it all out for the sake of being right but there’s a seriousness to her that unnerves him.

It’s when they’re standing in a morgue, looking at the body of the victim that she really starts to freak him out. The official reports say that it’s an animal attack - her wounds would suggest that. No one really knows what kind of animal could get into Central Park to cause this since the zoo’s tightly locked up, but then, it’s a lot more plausible to say _anima_ l than to say _vampire._

Caroline stares the marks on the girl’s body. “This was going on for a while.”

Kol pokes a corpse on a slab a few feet over, bored out of his mind. Even his love of the macabre isn’t enough to pique his interest. “What has?”

“She’s got bite marks all over, I recognize them.”

Well, his interest was piqued now. “And here I thought you were an advocate of healing your snacks.”

“I _am,_ _”_ Caroline stresses, looking up at him with a flat stare.

Kol cocks his head to the side, trying to puzzle out her short answers, but clearly Caroline isn’t going to be clarifying anything anytime soon, so he lets her finish her observations and then follows her back out onto the city streets.

“I really don’t know what’s got you all riled up about this girl,” Kol remarks when they arrive back at their hotel suite. “It’s not like you knew the bird.”

“Her name was Jessie, and that’s not the point,” Caroline replies tersely, tired of bickering over this.

“Vampires find pretty things to kill, she wouldn’t be the first.” If Kol was less glib, he might notice how Caroline stiffens at that, but he just continues to fix himself a drink.

“This is important to me, Kol,” she says slowly, drawing out the seriousness of each word.

“Why? Some human got herself killed, god knows we do enough killing ourselves!”

“Not like this, we don’t keep human snacks around for fun!”

“Why is this bothering you so much, she’s already dead!”

Caroline nearly stomps her foot in frustration but it would just look childish, instead she offers him an out, since he so clearly wants one. “If you don’t want to help me, just leave, I’ll do this myself.”

Her words twist something inside Kol, and he can’t figure out why before he’s snarling, lashing out against this odd feeling of fear. “You’re deflecting, darling,” he hisses, downing the scotch and striding forward until there’s a hair’s breadth between them. “Just tell me why this is more important to you than enjoying your time with me.”

“I don’t have to justify that,” Caroline snaps back, ready to give as good as she gets.

“Don’t be a bitch about this, Caroline, I’ll just compel it out of you.”

So. That’s the wrong thing to say.

Kol barely feels the impact of her fist on his face, and if he were a lesser being then he might’ve been sent sailing to the floor. As it is, his head snaps to the side and when it catches up to him that _Caroline_ has punched him in the face, he wants to ask her what the fuck has gotten into her, but before that can happen, she’s flashed out of the room.

God, he _really_ wished he’d never had the idea to play hide-and-fucking-seek in the middle of the night. Maybe there was something in acting your age. He could take after Elijah, wear suits and be depressingly dull, at least then there was a chance he could be getting sex right now.

And he’s still no closer to figuring out _why why why_ this stupid dead girl is so important to Caroline. It’s more than some self-righteous search for the truth or justice, it’s more than the fun of the mystery, it’s like Caroline is taking this _personally-_

Oh.

_Oh._

* * *

Kol follows a hunch and ends up being right. Not about random dead girls, he still doesn’t give a shit, but he knows Caroline and he had an idea where she’d run off to. Central Park during open hours is filled with all sorts, but coming down the stairs of the Bethesda Terrace, he can see the one person he’s looking for sitting on the edge of the large fountain, ignoring the tourists and joggers and the rest of the riff raff.

He takes a seat on the ledge of the fountain next to Caroline and for a moment, neither of them says a word (but he doesn’t get pushed in the fountain, he takes it as a good sign.) Eventually, he’s the one who looks for an answer to a brand new question he didn’t even want to ask.

“Who was it?”

It’s a simple question, but it’s a loaded one. It also requires no elaboration because Kol and Caroline are both smart enough to follow each other’s trains of thought. Later, they might wonder how they got to that point, but for now, it’s a blessing because they’re finally on the same page.

“Does it matter?” Caroline answers, finally.

Oh it does. It very much does. “You were human,” Kol says, more to himself than anything, quiet enough that only she can hear. “And Mystic Falls can be a magnet for trouble, but you never had any problems…not before…”

_The Salvatores came to town._

Caroline has her head bowed, long hair obscuring her face. Kol has to finish now, but there’s an awful feeling in the pit of his gut that he can honestly say he hasn’t felt since he was human. “Stefan was too much of a bore when he wasn’t binging on blood, or so I’ve heard. But Damon…”

Her silence is all the confirmation he needs.

In the next two minutes, Kol has mentally mapped out the route between New York and Virginia, picked out his favourite baseball bat, and imagined twenty different ways to use it on the elder Salavtore. He’s perfecting number twenty one when Caroline looks up, a little too guarded for his liking.

“You can’t do anything.”

“The _hell_ I can’t,” Kol snarls, fangs bared for all the world to see. His viciousness has always been quick and impulsive and Caroline isn’t about to allow him to cause a wide panic so she’s quick to cup his jaw, moving closer so that they’re nothing more than two young lovers.

(To be fair, that’s still true.)

“It happened,” Caroline says quickly, absently mindedly running her thumb over a raised vein. “You can guess the details.”

He can, and torture method number twenty two is coming along nicely.

“I kicked his ass a little, and then there was Elena and Stefan and…it was just easier to let things lie.”

It’s bullshit and they both know it, but the worst part is that it’s all true. Caroline was never going to have the justice she deserved - so of course, she was damn well going to give it to someone else.

“I could kill him,” Kol says, softly, dangerously. “It would be so simple. They’d never be able to stop me.”

“I know.”

“I’d never do it,” he adds after a moment. “Compel you, I mean. I never meant what I said earlier.”

Caroline smiles, it’s enough to get Kol to retract his fangs and come back to normalcy. “I know.”

There’s a lot more to be said but she settles for kissing him slowly, all earlier disputes put to rest. It’s so nice and so normal that Caroline forgets her past and Kol forgets how much he wants to claw Damon Salvatore to shreds. It’ll all come back, but for now, they enjoy each other for a moment of relative peace.

And then the peace ebbs away.

It’s Kol who realizes it first, the actual weight of what he just said. He’d just sworn to never compel her, and he _meant it._ It wasn’t a line to seduce his next snack, it wasn’t a petty promise to lull her into dropping her anger, it was a promise that he knew he didn’t want to break.

Since when did Kol Mikaelson make promises for keeps?

* * *

It’s not a question either of them really bother with because details are boring and sentimentality can ruin a good thing, along with Caroline’s overthinking and Kol’s own ego.

They’ve been together for…how long has it been? Long enough that it wasn’t a question whether they’d be together in the next city, country, or continent. That was a given. Kol and Caroline against the world and all that shit. Hot, dangerous and addicted to each other. But at some point, addiction had turned to adoration, danger had turned to devotion, lust had turned to –

It’s a small little four letter word, but neither of them have said it yet, and neither have stopped to question it. But Kol’s declaration rings in their ears and suddenly they’re being forced to ask all the questions they’ve been avoiding.

Caroline doesn’t really do _casual._ Is this thing of their’s casual?

Kol doesn’t really do anything that doesn’t involve a lot killing, but he wouldn’t lay a finger on Caroline and they both know it.

However, what he would do right now is take his bat to Salvatore’s face and spend some time releasing the hot coil of anger he feels every time he thinks about Caroline’s past with him. And _that_ _’s_ the rub, for the first time in goddamn eons he’s angry for someone who is not himself, not a family member (not that they ever appreciated any concern from him), someone who is instead a blonde baby vampire who in all probability he should’ve killed ages ago.

But he didn’t and now he never could. So where does that leave them?

“Watch yourself, will you Forbes?” A quick sidestep and a yank and the mess of long limbs is tucked under his arm, pouting as she adjusts her pink sunglasses, glaring at the woman who had so ungraciously shoved her out of the way a moment earlier.

“Seriously, why is everybody so freaking _pushy?_ _”_

“Tell you what Sweets, I’ll track her down and we’ll have a quick lunch. What do you say?” A wink and a peck on her pink lips is enough to smooth out her frown lines, but she swats at his chest, trying to be at least a little disapproving. They’re trying to enjoy themselves again like they were doing a few days ago, but things are different now and on one hand it’s fucking annoying, on the other hand it’s something that’s probably been building for a while.

Caroline still wants to catch a killer but without Kol to help it feels like she’s pulling away from him, and honestly that scares the shit out of her.

“We’re not hunting down tourists for lunch,” Caroline says half-heartedly.

“No, just murderers.” Kol keeps his eyes straight ahead, steering them through the Midtown crowd, feeling Caroline stiffen against him.

“Look, Kol–”

“I’m going to help you darling,” he says resolutely, “really help you.” It’s decided before he can think about it too much, because fuck it all, he’s Kol Mikaelson, he does what he wants and if that means he actually does good then the world better be bloody ready to appreciate it.

Caroline twists in his hold and is peppering kisses over his face, bright sunny smile nearly blinding but Kol is more that happy to let this be the last thing he sees. She wants to catch this bastard because it’s important to her and he recognizes that if it’s that big of a deal then he should care at least a little.

He doesn’t consciously want to, this all scares the shit out of him. He tells her as much and almost expects her to freak out but instead she  laughs, kisses him again  and calls him a chaotic neutral and he takes it. Doesn’t really understand, but he takes it.

* * *

The most disappointing part of this crime solving thing is that there’s not a whole lot of actual investigating. It’s not really Nancy Drew. It’s not even CSI. Mostly it’s a lot of sifting through a person’s life until you find out how they got involved with someone so evil that they end up dead.

Thank god compulsion is a thing, Kol would probably torture people for of information if he could. God knows he tried.

The NYU dorms are a hazy reminder of all the things Caroline never got to experience, but then a drunk frat guy hits on her and the feeling goes away pretty quickly. Kol breaks the douche’s fingers and leaves him with a concussion while Caroline asks around, finally matching a Twitter profile with a face.

Jessie’s old roommate is a mess of sweatpants and unwashed hair, and Caroline’s heart goes out to the girl who was supposed to be enjoying her freshman year of college instead of mourning her best friend. She tries to be gentle and makes Kol wait outside, which probably means he’s going to find Frat Guy and beat him up some more, but Caroline has bigger fish to fry.

_“There was this guy.”_ Of course there was.

_“They started spending a lot of time together.”_ Of course they did.

_“Jess was acting really weird.”_ Of course she was.

Caroline tamps down on the bile rising in her throat, but when she hears about forced smiles, odd bruises and a sudden penchant for scarves, she has to compel the girl to forget the conversation and get out of the small room before she can throw up. Kol finds her outside, leaning on the side of the brick building and trying to repress her own sordid memories.

For a moment he shifts uncomfortably, fighting against instinct and sense. He doesn’t do comfort, he does mayhem and violence, but for now he fights his nature and pulls Caroline into what he hopes counts as a warm hug.

“I want to _hunt_ ,” she says, muffled against him and Kol curves his lips into a feral smirk. This is something he knows he can give her.

* * *

 

The bar is a dive, but it works for college kids with more energy than taste. There are too many bodies crushed against each other to notice the blonde sitting in a corner, keeping to herself. That’s not totally true though– at least one person has noticed her.

“Hey, can I buy you a drink?”

God, he even _looks_ like an asshole who would compel girls and kill them when he was done.

“Uh, sure.” If she concentrates, Caroline’s pretty sure she can recreate everything she said that night in the Mystic Grill back when she was a petty, insecure human, and the urge to vomit is back. She keeps her composure though, drawing out the game. There’s a pair of eyes drilling into her and she fights the urge to seek out Kol, even for comfort.

They can comfort each other all they want when this son of a bitch is dead.

It’s an easy game to play, all giggles and hair flips and when the vampire finally leans forward and lets his voice lower and pupils dilate, Caroline plays along, letting herself be led outside.

“Alright baby, just relax, this isn’t going to hurt…much.” His leer makes her sick, and it is so goddamn satisfying to let her fangs drop, let her own monster take over and throw the dick straight into a wall. He flashes to his feet, shock fading into rage.

“You goddamn _bitch,_ _”_ he snarls. “I’m going to fuck you bloody for that.”

A sickening crack sounds as the vampire’s legs are swiftly broken so that he’s forced to his knees, but it’s not the blonde’s fault because he’s looking up at Caroline who is standing back with a grim smile on her face.

“And for _that,_ darling,” a new voice hisses in his ear. “We’re going to take our time with you.”

* * *

Dawn breaks and they’re lying in bed, finally satisfied. They’d needed a few rounds in the shower to get all the blood off and Kol kept getting distracted, but Caroline wasn’t about to spoil his fun. He’d helped her, he’d _wanted_ to do this because it was important to her.

Yeah, she definitely owed him at least a few more rounds of thank-you sex.

Kol sighs contently, enjoying the afterglow of sex and violence. One arm is bent under his head, the other curves around Caroline’s back where she’s lying across his chest, drawing long lines up and down her spine. He’s done questioning his own feelings. Whatever he has to do to keep her here, he’ll do it.

“You know, we could make this a thing.”

Caroline lifts her chin up to look him in the eye. “A thing?”

“P.I. licenses aren’t that hard to come by.”

It must be the last few days getting to her, Caroline swears she’s dreaming this. “You want to…solve crimes?”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

Oh, she does. She really, really does. “Are you high?”

“Nah, I haven’t done cocaine in a while. But if you’re interested, I know a fellow who can get some really high quality-”

“Nope, not becoming a junkie.”

Kol smirks at her, “I’d say you’d make a decent sex junkie, if last night was any indication.”

Caroline wants to protest, but honestly, he’s got a point. She’s addicted to him, there’s really no use denying it now. And so she doesn’t mind playing along.

“Forbes and Mikaelson, Private Investigators. I like that.”

“Mikaelson and Forbes, actually.”

“We’ll talk about that later.” Caroline grins and pushes herself up so that she can kiss him lazily, enjoying the feel of his hand carding through her hair. Pulling back, she looks at him curiously. “Were you serious?”

“Obviously, darling.”

“You want to _‘help’_ people?”

“Oh I don’t give a damn about that, I just like hunting. You can do the helping and we’ll see it as a happy compromise.”

Caroline watches him for a second, the pale light on his face, all angles and mischief waiting to happen. But something softer too. Not that she’ll ever say it out loud, he’d probably kill a small town just to prove a point. But as long as he was offering, this was something that could work.

“Huh.”

“What?”

“This might be a good idea.”

Kol rolls his eyes so dramatically Caroline knows she’s rubbing off on him. “Of course it is. Honestly, ye of little faith.”

“Plenty of faith, thank you very much,” Caroline says, rising up again to pepper kisses all over his face, her way of thanks.

Kol laughs softly until she’s done, pulling away to look down on him with a bright glint in her eyes. “So, are we doing this now?”

His response is to use his speed against her, pressing her into the luxe sheets with a pointed smirk. “I’d rather do _you._ _”_

Well, Caroline’s not about to argue with him there. He keeps his smirk as he lowers kisses down her body and Caroline knows there’s not a fucking thing casual about the way he looks at her, but it’s not scary anymore. It’s everything they want, and they’re not stopping anytime soon. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


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